Review- STAR WARS- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOLUME 2: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

STAR WARS- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOLUME 2: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Abrams Comicarts, First Printing, 2016; Hardcover)

Trading cards were very important to the kids of 1980. In the land of no cable television or home video (most people did not own VCRs at the time), these Topps cards were the only game in town to remember and relive the Star Wars movies in the comfort of your own home. I bought as many of them as I could afford, scraping together quarters and empty pop bottles. My brother and I would trade our doubles, eventually completing all three sets.

It was a blast to go through and relive the excitement of collecting these cards, memorizing the facts on the backs of the cards and doing the puzzles from the backs of the stickers. I remember using the alphabet stickers on school folders, and my brother putting S W A M P on our bedroom door. He was a big M.A.S.H. fan and called our room the Swamp after that show.

The cards are all scanned, front and back. Some are presented slightly larger than the original cards, while some are slightly smaller due to the front and back being on the same page. I enjoyed the commentary about the first series, which was planned before the movie was released.

This book is a real trip down memory lane. I still need to get the book for the cards from the first movie, Star Wars (suck it, you 1981 rerelease A New Hope revisionists!) and am looking forward to the Return Of The Jedi book.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book is a small, chunky book.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. The binding is very tight, requiring two hands to keep it open at all times. This is the result of the book block being glued square to the casing. On the plus side, there is no way that this book will ever fall apart. The denizens of 2148 will delight in this book.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: The dustjacket has a waxpaper feel to it, similar to the wrappers of the original cards. The image on the front of the paper casewrap is the stick of gum found in every pack of cards. The back cover of the hardback shows the stick of gum broken. The casewrap has a matte coating which gets scuffed fairly easily.